


Parents

by Schattenschreiberin



Series: Modern AU (I swear I can be creative) [6]
Category: Brave (2012), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26637496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schattenschreiberin/pseuds/Schattenschreiberin
Summary: Hiccup, Merida and Rapunzel finally meet the missing member of the Overland-family.To discover that he is absent for a reason.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Jack Frost (Guardians of Childhood), Rapunzel (Disney)/Jackson Overland (Rise of the Guardians)
Series: Modern AU (I swear I can be creative) [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827148
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I could not find anything about Jacks’ mother.  
> So, I named her after her voice actress.  
> There’s even less about his dad so I picked his name because I wanted North to be their uncle and I have OCs that are siblings and have those names. I’m very creative, I know…

“Hiccup! We’re late!”

Toothless watched as the brunet girl ran around the room, trying to find her phone, her wallet or another small item that she had forgotten to put in her backpack. Hiccup stood with his bag and Toothless’ leash next to his dog and chuckled “Calm down, Punzie. Dad isn’t here yet and we won’t miss the train”

“But I don’t want to let anyone wait. Not Stoick and not the others. Aha!”, she almost got stuck behind the couch but finally found the last thing, her headphones, that she needed for this trip “Now I have everything” She paused and looked around “Or…”

“You have everything. You double checked all your clothes yesterday and you got your phone, wallet and headphones”, Hiccup looked out the window and saw his father park on the sidewalk in front of their house “And Dad is here”

Rapunzel shouldered her backpack and nodded “I’m ready”

“Why are you so nervous about a little weekend trip again?”

“I’m not nervous”, she quickly followed when Hiccup left the house and walked towards Stoicks’ car “I’m excited. Like the first time I met Stoick”

“I don’t think you can compare that” but he still had to smile at the thought off their first meeting. It had not only been the first meeting between Rapunzel and Stoick but also Hiccups’ first meeting with Arianna.

He was excited too.

They had met Emily Overland on multiple occasions but two days ago was the first time they had ever heard any of the Overland siblings talk about their father. And it was an invitation to spend the weekend with him. Emma explained that he wanted to thank them in person for what happened on Halloween. She didn’t explain why he lived a two-hour train ride away though… or why none of her brothers were nearly as excited as she was.

Their friends were easy to spot once they entered the central station.

It wasn’t as crowded as Hiccup feared it would be so Toothless could walk comfortably next to him without having to worry that someone might run into him or his leash while they headed towards them. Emma seemed to be the only one of the four who was truly happy to be there.

Merida was absentmindedly rubbing the knuckles on her bandaged right hand and was talking with Jack about something that made both of them look somewhat disappointed but also slightly relieved. Hiccup knew what it was, but they had decided not to talk about it anymore. Jackson was just smiling at Emma who was pointing at her phone excitedly.

It wasn’t much time left so they immediately went to the platform and waited there.

Rapunzel talked with Emma who was telling her about all the things she wanted to do and show them once they arrived at their fathers’ house. So, their father had a house while Emily lived with the three of them in a small apartment?

“So, your parents are divorced?” Hiccup finally dared to ask after they were sitting in the train and he had listened to Emma talk about her dad for a while.

The little girl immediately shook her head “They are not! They’re taking a break. We’ll move back together soon”

Jack was sitting at the window and just nodded wordless at the ‘divorce’-part while Jackson sat in between his siblings and scratched his neck, looking torn.

Rapunzel raised her eyebrows “They’ve been taking a ‘break’ since you moved here?”

Jack sighed and raised two fingers, moving them apart slowly. The ‘break’ was longer than those few months. But Emma nodded “Yeah. But as I said, we’re moving back together soon”

“Then you’ll be two hours away?” Merida looked not happy at all.

“We can move in a house around here”

Hiccup looked at his stepsister and she raised one finger. One year. Arianna was a therapist for couples and her daughter was very interested in this profession, so she knew a few things about this topic. She quickly shook her head. She really didn’t want to think about things like this right now. Emma was happy and excited about this weekend and Rapunzel really didn’t want to ruin it for her.

They avoided any more questions about the relationship between the parents and instead tried to learn a bit more about the man they would meet after this train ride.

From what Emma told them, he was a great guy, from how Jack looked like, he wasn’t a great dad, and from how Jackson barely said anything they could gather that at least the twins didn’t have the best relationship with him.

From the train station they had to take a fifteen-minute bus ride until Emma threw herself into the arms of a tall brunet man who looked like he was in his mid fourties, a little bit older than Emily.

Hiccup practically felt Jack tense up beside him, so he decided to stand back with him and Toothless while Jackson and the girls were all greeted by Mike Overland with a smile. The smile didn’t fade when he came to Jack, but something changed in his eyes. It was gone too fast though for Hiccup to actually find out what it was.

“And you must be Hiccup. With your heroic dog” “Yeah. This is Toothless” Hiccup shook the offered hand and then looked at this dog “I guess he’s pretty heroic”

Toothless barked and sniffed at the hand that was now offered to him. He decided to be not overly joyful about the new guy and just looked up at Hiccup with a ‘I accept him, but we won’t be friends’-look. His dog had a thing for detecting if people were as nice as they acted so the auburn-haired teen frowned but didn’t mention it. But he didn’t need to mention it to Rapunzel and Merida, they saw and knew Toothless well enough to know.

They needed to walk for about five more minutes, much to Toothless’ enjoyment who had not been happy about being caged in for so long. Emma was talking excitedly with her dad while Rapunzel was walking next to them, answering a few questions from Mr. Overland from time to time. Jackson walked awkwardly behind them, Toothless by his side, and the rest of their group walked even farther away from their host. Merida with a look of slight confusion, Hiccup still questioning his dogs’ strange reaction and Jack… Jack looked like he loved to be anywhere but here.

Toothless pulling at his leash gave Hiccup an idea how he could find out a bit more about Mike than the praise Emma had been giving. There was a sign pointing to a trail through the forest. “Mr. Overland?”, Hiccup waited till the man had stopped and looked back at him “Would it be okay if I would go to that trail with Toothless? He’s going to go crazy if he doesn’t get a proper walk soon” His dog barked in agreement and jumped back to him. “It’s okay with me. But you’ve never been here, have you?”

“I’ll go with him. I won’t let him get lost” Jack didn’t look at his dad, he only looked at Jackson when he offered to take his bag to the house. Merida did the same for Hiccup and the two boys walked with Toothless towards the trail while the rest continued down the street.

Merida walked next to Jackson now and elbowed him to get his attention. She didn’t like the torn look on his face, so she smiled at him. Even though it was clear to her too, that this weekend wouldn’t be a fun one…


	2. Chapter 2

The trail was covered in red and golden leaves, some sliding over the ground, pushed by the slight breeze. Toothless was hitting the moving leaves with his paw, more jumping than walking down the trail. Hiccup couldn’t just let him run freely without his leash, but he didn’t seem to mind as long as the boys didn’t stop.

They walked in silence for a while.

“You don’t seem that happy about being here” Hiccup finally began. “What gives you that idea?”, Jack quickly shook his head and sighed “Sorry. I didn’t mean to sound so…” “It’s okay. But why are you angry in the first place?”

Jack watched Toothless chase falling leaves for a few moments before answering “I… Me and my dad just don’t have the best relationship… But it’s nothing you or the others have to worry about. Just enjoy the weekend, Hiccup”

The taller teen frowned and shook his head “How am I supposed to do that when I know that something is up with you and your dad. Even Toothless doesn’t trust him” At the sound of his name the dog stopped and looked back at them. “I already know that your dog is smart…” “And Merida and Rapunzel do too. So, none of us are going to ignore this”, Hiccup didn’t mean to push his friend like this but now he had to know “Please tell me and let me help. If I can…”

“You can’t help with this…”

Hiccup crossed his arms “People told me I couldn’t keep my leg. So, let me judge what I can and can’t do” He had stopped and so had Toothless in front of them. Jack stood between them and looked at the ground. It was silent for a worryingly amount of time.

“… just look at me…” “Huh?”

“I said ‘just look at me’”, Jack repeated and tugged at the strings of his hoodie “… I don’t look like them at all…”

The taller teen blinked. It was true that Jack looked very different from the rest of his family but why would that matter? It shouldn’t matter.

“I tried to fix it… but everything just made it look worse. Made me stand out even more…”

“But standing out isn’t a bad thing and-“ “It is!” Hiccup flinched at the sudden outburst and could just look at his friend. Jack was clutching the edges of his hood, pulling it farther down. “I never wanted to look like this. I just wanted to go one day without getting the feeling that I don’t belong. Do one thing that wouldn’t end in disaster…”

“Jack-“ “’Watch Emma’, don’t get her run over by a taxi. ‘Stay inside’, don’t let your brother break through the ice and drown…”, Jack had sunk to the ground, Toothless leaning his warm body against the trembling teen “I make a mess of everything, Hiccup…”

“…” Hiccup didn’t know what to say. No, that wasn’t true, he actually had a lot to say. Just not to Jack. He didn’t know about the two incidents he had just mentioned… but from the past months since that summer day he knew that “That’s not true. You always give your best when it comes to your family and your friends”

“Then how did Jackson almost drown again and Merida almost broke her hand?”

Well… he also knew that Jack could be stubborn… Hiccup kneeled down in front of his friend “Halloween happened because you guys run into Dagur. But you, Jackson and Merida protected the triplets and Emma. And you jumped after them when they were in the lake” “Toothless was still the one saving us…” The giant dog butted Jacks head with his nose and Hiccup smiled “I don’t know if you noticed but we were a bit late to the party that night. Toothless couldn’t have done anything without you being there”

“And Merida…”, carefully Hiccup pushed Jacks’ hood up so he could look him in the eye “you protected each other after going after Dagur on your own. Like the stupidly brave and stubborn idiots you are”

“But you were right… we should’ve waited. At least for you and Toothless…” “You should’ve… but you didn’t. And that kept him from getting away”, Jack had finally let go of his hood and Hiccup pushed it all the way back before cupping the smaller teens cheek, wiping away a few tears in the process “You are a great brother and friend, Jack. No one is allowed to make you feel otherwise”

Was he getting a bit close? Maybe. But this wasn’t about him and his crush on his friend, this was about helping Jack.

Merida would probably feel the urge to punch someone, not that Hiccup didn’t have that feeling, but that wasn’t a possible solution to this problem…

He breathed a sigh of relieve when he finally saw a tiny smile on Jacks’ face.

“You’re great friend too, Hiccup…”

Mike had planned dinner for all of them. Emma threw a wrench in his plans because she wanted to make Jacks’ favorite food since he had been looking upset all day and she wanted him to feel better. Merida stayed in the kitchen for some snacks and after putting Meridas’ and her own bag in the guest room Rapunzel wandered around the house.

It was as big as a family of five would need. A master bedroom, one room for each child, a guest room, the kitchen with dining area and a spacious living room. The house wasn’t new, Rapunzel didn’t think that the Overlands built it, but they had to have bought it at some point…

The living room was decorated with a lot of framed pictures. Her sharp eyes noticed the vacant spots immediately. Emily probably took them with her when they left. She noticed a few unfamiliar faces in the other photographs, most noticeably a man with a similar build to Stoick. On almost all pictures he was in he had Jack with him.

“That’s North, dads’ brother and Jacks’ godfather”

Rapunzel looked over her shoulder and saw Jackson walk over to her. She smiled before looking back at the picture “They seem close” “They are… but he’s overseas right now. So we haven’t seen him in a while”

They stood in silence for a while. Rapunzel let her eyes wander over the photos.

“Your dad doesn’t like Jack that much”

It wasn’t a question. Jackson didn’t really expect a question from her. He sighed and let himself fall on the sofa behind them “Some people have a favorite child… and dad has a least favorite” “But why?” Rapunzel was frowning when she sat down next to him. Jack was a bit of a troublemaker and sometimes worryingly forgetful, but she really couldn’t understand why someone, especially a parent, would dislike him.

“I’m not sure… maybe he thinks Jack isn’t his…”

“That’s ridiculous!”, Rapunzel flinched at the volume of her own voice and quickly looked over to the closed door before continuing “You’re twins. And you look almost exactly like your dad”

Jackson could only shrug “I don’t even know if that’s it”

“Then”, she pulled her legs up, so she was kneeling on the cushions “tell me what he does”

“Rapunzel… Are you trying to be our therapist or something?”

“I’m trying to be a good friend”, she took his hand and held it with both of hers “And I hate seeing my friends upset like this”

While looking into her big, green eyes he had to wonder why they always ended up like this. Close to each other with him being the one needing help or comfort… but if any of their friends could actually help with this it was Rapunzel. Hiccup had his witty comebacks and sarcasm, Merida had her strength and knowledge how to properly utilize it and Rapunzel had her cheery and caring nature with the right amount of stubbornness and determination…

“You’re already a great friend” “That is not an answer”

Jackson shook his head and then looked over to a picture with just him and his siblings “… Without Jack, I wouldn’t be here today. Neither would Emma…” Rapunzel blinked in surprise, but she decided not to ask and just listened.

“I think we were ten… Mom was at work and we were playing in the front yard with Emma when dad left to pick something up from a neighbor. It was getting late, sun was going down too, so he told us to put away our toys and go inside. Emma loved to hide stuff. That’s why it took us a while to get everything together. I was pretty annoyed and didn’t pay much attention to what Emma and Jack were doing but suddenly Jack called her name. She was in the middle of the street, petting one of the stray cats from around here. I still have no idea how she managed to open the gate, but she was just standing out there, on the dark street and her clothes weren’t exactly brightly colored. The taxi driver had been on the road the entire day and he said he was so tired that he didn’t see Emma at all… But seeing his headlights getting reflected by Jacks’ white hair jolted him awake and he managed to hit the breaks and swerve to the right”

Rapunzels’ eyes were wide “He jumped in front of the car?” It wasn’t hard for her to imagine that since she had heard Merida yell at Jack for shoving her aside when Dagur blindly tried to slash her with his knife, essentially taking the blow for her.

Jackson nodded, a weak smile on his face “Yeah… When I got to the road the taxi had crashed into a fence. The left front tire was only inches from Jacks’ head. Almost the whole neighborhood came together to see what happened and, in most eyes, my little brother was a hero… Just not in his own”

“But how? Emma was like… four. Getting hit by a car would’ve killed her”

“I know, everybody knows”, he clenched his free hand to a fist, glaring at it as if it was the cause of all his problems “but he was closer to the gate. He should’ve seen her open it and get her back right away, before anything could happen. It was his fault that she was out there in the first place”

She looked at him in disbelief. “That’s what Jack said. I never heard… dad say anything like it”, thinking back on all of this made it a bit harder to just call Mike Overland his father “But he never said anything against it either…”

It was silent for a moment. Until Rapunzel asked “Does Emma know how Jack feels?”

“No… He doesn’t want her to know”, Jackson sighed and let his head fall back “and I don’t think it would help him if I would just tell her”

“Probably not…”, absentmindedly Rapunzel entwined their fingers to squeeze his hand “But she should know. Emma loves you both and she wants you to be happy… Is this the reason why you all moved out?”

He nodded “Mom wanted to go the way where the least amount of damage would be dealt… She knows… So staying meant for her damage to Jack and me but leaving like she did didn’t really hurt anyone, not even Emma. Yet…”

Merida would hear it later from Rapunzel but right now she didn’t know that her friends were having some quite emotional conversations.

She was sitting at the dining table, cracking and eating a few walnuts while Emma and her father were cooking and talking. Merida looked out the window at the darkening sky. It looked like it would start to rain soon, and Jack and Hiccup were still outside. She thought about calling them but before she could get her phone out Emma caught her attention.

“Really?! Mom said we couldn’t have one”

Merida turned around on her chair to see Emma and Mike standing at the stove. Mike smiling down at his daughter.

“Well, a puppy needs room and a garden to play in”

“So we’re gonna get it when we move back in?”

“Or we could pick one up from the shelter tomorrow and you just come to visit more often”

“I would love that!”

The nut the teen was holding right now cracked but she quickly shook her head and let go of it.

Yes, the Overlands were obviously getting divorced and the children had to live with either Emily or Mike but… He did not try to bribe Emma with a dog.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Were Rapunzel and Hiccup always siblings in this series or did I just come up with this now?  
> No. It was decided back in the second part when Merida said she was practically living at Hiccups' and Rapunzels' place. 
> 
> Did everyone just friendzone eachother?


End file.
